Hands on Tension
by Andrew Joshua Talon
Summary: Set around Season 2. Ezra and Leia meet again, and have some fun being normal teenagers. Sabine gets to experience something normal, too: Jealousy.
1. Chapter 1

Hands on Tension

 _A Star Wars: Rebels two shot by Andrew Joshua Talon_

DISCLAIMER: This is a non-profit fan based work of prose. _Star Wars_ is owned by Lucasfilm Ltd. and Disney. Please support the official release.

* * *

Note: _Set around Season 2…_

* * *

Ezra looked around the _Tantive IV_ corridors with an eager smile, as he and the rest of the Ghost crew walked through the corridors. They had made another cargo run for Bail Organa, and were meeting in deep space to make the exchange. The senator and his daughter were soon located, Bail all smiles as Leia was looking interested.

"Senator Organa, and Princess Organa," Hera greeted the pair.

"Hello Captain Syndulla, Master Jedi, everyone," Bail said with a smile. "We have much to discuss."

"You know what that means, squirt," Zeb smirked. Ezra scowled.

"Yeah yeah yeah, I get it," he sighed. He looked over at Leia, who smiled at him. "Hey Princess."

"I see you have a lightsaber now," Leia said. She led Ezra further down the corridor from the others, down into the wide expanse of the ship's cargo bay. Ezra grinned, and unhooked his lightsaber. He held it out for Leia to examine. The two were bent over it, their shoulders bumping against each other. Sabine looked over from the older Rebels talking and watched.

"Oh yeah! I'm not as good as my teacher. But I've been learning a lot from him," Ezra said, and Kanan stood up a bit straighter in pride some distance away.

"That's incredible," Leia said with a grin, turning it over in her hands. "You built a stun blaster into it?"

"Yeah," Ezra said with a nod. Leia hummed.

"So... You're not very good with the saber part, then?" She asked. Ezra looked aside, grimacing a bit.

"I'm working on it. But I did it more because I needed to have an incognito way to keep it close at hand in case I needed to switch to it."

Leia nodded. "Clever. But you know, the lightsaber part is hard to handle." She stepped back a few steps. Ezra shrugged.

"Well… I've gotten pretty-"

The Force screamed and Ezra snapped his lightsaber on. Just in time, as Leia had pulled her blaster and fired it. Ezra blocked the stun shot, sending it right back at the princess. Leia yelped and ducked down, narrowly avoiding the shot.

"Woah! You're as quick off the draw as Sabine!" Ezra gasped in amazement. Leia stood up, grinning back at him. Neither noticed Sabine tensing up a bit at this.

"Not bad!" Leia complimented.

Ezra deactivated his lightsaber, and looked admiringly at the Princess. "You have a lot of hobbies, huh?"

"You might say that," Leia said with a chuckle.

"So, wanna check it out?" Ezra asked. He held the weapon out to her. She stared for a second, and took it carefully into her hands.

"I… I'd love to," Leia said. She ignited the blade, and sucked in a deep breath as the blue blade buzzed to life. "Woah…"

"Don't try to be fancy with it," Ezra got behind her and gingerly began to guide her arms, up and down. "Get a feel for it, yeah like this."

"There's no weight... How do you manage it?" Leia asked curiously.

Sabine took a deep breath some distance away, and became unusually interested in her blasters.

"You have to go with the lightness," Ezra said, "use it to your advantage. Think of it as an extension of your body, and your mind."

Leia began to move it, up and down, side to side, until the motions became fluid to her. Ezra grinned.

"Heh, there you go, you got it."

"Wow... I seem to remember... Positions for the blade's use? In an old Jedi manual?" Leia asked. She looked at Ezra, and bumped back against him accidentally. "Do you know them?"

"Well, I only know a little Form IV…" Ezra said. Leia grinned.

"Show me!" She said eagerly, turning the lightsaber off and handing it back to him. Ezra took it, switched it into training mode, and ignited the weapon again with his own smile.

"Sure!" He said. He began to move through the basic forms, as Leia watched intently. Sabine watched too, her brow furrowed.

"I don't believe it," Zeb spoke. Sabine was too well trained to jump, but it was surprising. She looked over: She hadn't noticed that the rest of the adults were now watching Ezra and Leia. Hera and Kanan were smiling fondly, while Bail was looking both scared and proud.

"Kid's scoring points with the Princess," Zeb said with an approving nod. He looked over at the Senator and winced. "Er, no offense Senator."

"None taken," Bail said. "Leia has so few friends her own age. Letting her enjoy herself from time to time is worth it. Being a normal girl… With a normal boy."

That got a hearty twitch from Sabine.

"Amost normal," Kanan observed, though he was smiling as he squeezed Hera's hand. Hera smiled back. Sabine looked back over at the pair, trying very hard not to let them see the sudden tension she felt.

Ezra was demonstrating Form IV like someone competent at it. He'd progressed to basic acrobatics: Difficult to do in an enclosed space like the cargo bay, but he was doing very well. Leia grinned and clapped in a way that wasn't entirely sarcastic, and laughed as Ezra paused to bow.

"If I recall correctly, Form IV is known as Ataru, or Way of the Hawkbat," Leia said. Ezra nodded.

"That's right," Ezra said.

"It's very energy intensive, and relies on a lot of high energy movement," Leia continued. She hummed thoughtfully.

"I learned something called Shien, but with a staff," She said. Ezra nodded.

"Oh! Form V, right? I know… Some…"

"Want to show me?" Leia asked with a smile. Ezra grinned.

"Ah... I can try. Truth is, I'm not exactly a master at it," he said. He began running through some of the motions with his lightsaber, as Leia observed thoughtfully.

"Hmm… Your feet need to be further apart," she said. "Your stance is too tight." She shoved him, and he stumbled back. "See?" She got behind Ezra, and pressed against him as she adjusted his arms and shoulders. "Swing now. That feels stronger, right?"

"Yeah," Ezra said with a bright grin.

"You know," Kanan called out to them, "I have a training mode for my lightsaber. You could see how you two are in a spar."

Sabine twitched, her hands tempted to pull her blasters all of a sudden. The urge became much stronger as Leia smiled back.

"I'd love to!"

Kanan came down, and showed Leia how to set the saber to training mode. He then let her turn it on, and stepped back. Ezra grinned at her, and she grinned back. They were sharing the experience, and it was absolutely exhilarating.

"Well, I hope you're ready," Ezra said challengingly. Leia smirked back.

"I'll go easy on you," she replied. They clashed the lightsabers together, a few probing thrusts and jabs, before Ezra went for a complex Form IV combo: Striking and feinting, before flipping up to strike her from above. Leia dodged, and thrust into his stomach. Ezra yelped and landed hard on the deck in a competent recovery. Zeb tried very hard not to laugh at the awestruck look on Ezra's face, and the smirk on Leia's.

"... Whoa. That was amazing! How'd you do that?" Ezra asked. He scrambled up onto his feet. "Do that again! Show me how to do that!"

"Certainly," Leia said cheerfully.

He spent another ten minutes learning that move from Leia, getting all touchy and feely in the process. Hera applauded, Bail was amazed. Kanan shouted tips, Zeb enjoyed himself, and Sabine had to fight the urge to grind her teeth to powder. Hera stood next to her, leaning against the railing overlooking the cargo bay. Sabine glared over at Hera, who was smiling like a sun.

"You're jealous," Hera murmured softly.

"What? Of what? I don't know what you're talking about," Sabine muttered back, looking back at her guns. Hera looked over at Leia and Ezra.

"Did she just brush herself against him?" Hera murmured, just a bit louder than before. Sabine's head shot up as she glared at Leia and Ezra… Who were comparing their lightsabers. Sabine took a deep breath, and shut her eyes to center herself.

"Look on the bright side," Hera said reassuringly, "once we're back on the Ghost, he's aaaall yours."

"What, so he can annoy me more?" Sabine muttered, through the tension left her shoulders slightly. "Pfft…"

* * *

 _There will be a second part to this story._

 _Also,_ _I'm building a new canon for Star Wars that combines the best of the Disney with the best of Legends. This is just one of several stories I plan to fill out the universe. If you'd like to join in, look me up on Spacebattles. I'd love to have you aboard._


	2. Chapter 2

Hands on Tension

 _A Star Wars: Rebels two shot by Andrew Joshua Talon_

DISCLAIMER: This is a non-profit fan based work of prose. _Star Wars_ is owned by Lucasfilm Ltd. and Disney. Please support the official release.

* * *

Note: _Set around Season 2…_

* * *

Soon enough, the visit ended and an almost giddy Ezra returned to the Ghost, with almost all of his family.

"She is so cool. I'm telling you Kanan, she's got to be a Jedi! It's like pure instinct with her! I'd love to train with her," Ezra gushed happily.

"Heh, yep. Train," Zeb said, his sharp teeth bared in a grin. Ezra missed the significance as he went on about the Princess.

"She'd be amazing if we could just teach her enough!" Ezra said. Kanan nodded, smirking quite a bit.

"It's possible... Unfortunately, we can't afford to get too close to her right now. You especially," Kanan observed. Ezra blushed.

"I-I don't mean like that!" He said quickly, waving his hands. Zeb's grin widened just a bit more.

"Like what, hm?"

Ezra blushed harder, as Kanan patted Ezra on the shoulder.

"You know, wanted terrorists with a princess," Kanan said, smiling innocently. "What did you think I meant?"

Ezra opted for silence, so as not to bury himself deeper. The blush on his cheeks was answer enough, and Kanan and Zeb just laughed as Hera covered her mouth to conceal her own amusement. Chopper, however, had no such restraint. He beeped and booped several lewd things, making Ezra's face even hotter.

"Sh-shut up Chopper!" Ezra shouted. Chopper continued to beep, and Ezra gave chase. He pounced on the droid and bashed it with his fist, as Chopper continued to laugh and make lewd suggestions in Binary.

Hera watched them go, and pulled out her commlink. She muttered some instructions to Chopper via their link, and the droid buzzed back in acceptance. Kanan looked at her questioningly. Hera smirked.

"Just helping things along," she said.

Chopper dumped Ezra in the crew corridor of the Ghost, and wheeled off laughing. Ezra glared after the little droid, and was about to get up and resume the chase when he heard something familiar: Furious, angry painting. He peeked into Sabine's room, and saw her hard at work, painting in broad, bright strokes: Abstract, but unmistakably angry shapes. He didn't need the Force to tell she was annoyed.

"Whoa," Ezra murmured. Sabine stopped, and glared over her shoulder at him. Ezra winced. "Are you okay?"

"Oh, I'm just fine," Sabine replied tersely. The Force screamed this was a lie, not that Ezra needed the danger sense to help with that.

"You seem angry," Ezra said, trying for the tone of voice Kanan would adopt when trying to keep Hera from losing her temper. He called it the 'Jedi tone'. In this case, it just made Sabine scoff in annoyance.

"Perceptive, aren't you?" She snorted. Ezra coughed, still trying to keep the 'Jedi tone' going.

"Do... you want to talk about it?" He asked. Sabine looked back to the wall, hiding her face from him.

"Not really," Sabine stated. Ezra nodded.

"Okay," he said. "It um... looks great though."

Sabine sighed in irritation.

"You're just going to stand there, aren't you?" She asked.

"I wanna make sure you're really all right," Ezra admitted, shrugging.

"...You can be a real idiot, Ezra Bridger," Sabine sighed. Something flashed in Ezra's mind. Now the danger he felt in the Force made sense.

"Wait... were you upset because me and Leia were getting along?" Ezra asked, trying to contain his many conflicting emotions: Amazement, elation, and some disbelief.

"No! Of course not… Why would I be?" Sabine said, far too quickly. Ezra nodded, trying hard not to smile too widely. He was almost there...

"Yeah, why would you?" Ezra asked. Sabine nodded, still not looking at Ezra. Her eyes were locked on the painted bulkhead.

"Of course! So I'm obviously angry about something else," Sabine said.

"You were... jealous?" Ezra asked. Sabine shook her head rapidly.

"No!" She barked. She went back to painting, a little too dedicated to her art. Ezra crossed his arms, and leaned against the edge of the hatch. He looked aside.

"Look, Leia's cool and all, but I'm not interested in her," he admitted. "It was just nice."

The tension he felt in the Force, and saw in her shoulderblades, relaxed almost immediately when he said this.

"Oh," Sabine said. She shrugged, "well. Whatever."

Ezra nodded. He took a deep breath and walked up to stand by her side. She made no move in response to this, as she kept her eyes locked on the wall.

"There's really only one girl I've been interested in for a while now. And she doesn't have to worry about princesses or ex-Jedi or whatever," Ezra said softly. Sabine nodded, still not looking directly at him.

"I see," she said. She glanced at her paint brushes. "I suppose that's comforting."

"Yeah," Ezra said. He grinned, feeling a bit more confident. "But she does make amazing art when she's mad."

Sabine was silent. She turned away to pull on her helmet. Ezra coughed, and turned to quickly retreat.

"Well I gotta go! Later!" He said fast, as he got out of there. He still needed to find Chopper and pay him back, after all.

Thus was the evening that Ezra Bridger left Sabine Wren's face so red she had to hide her face. Not that he knew that at the time.

* * *

Zeb had to admit, it was interesting to see Sabine on the backfoot the next "morning" as they flew back to Lothal. First she was super jealous, now she was actually daydreaming as she cleaned her weapons in the rec room. The Lasat leaned against the bulkhead, raising his brows.

"Yer gonna put that trigger guard on backward," he observed. Sabine started, and quickly corrected her mistake.

"Ah? Ah, right," Sabine said. Zeb's grin grew sly, and he leaned forward just a bit.

"Kid did a real number on you, huh?" He asked. Sabine snorted, shaking her head.

"What? He didn't even touch me," she said.

"That's the funny part," Zeb chuckled. Chopper, having wandered into the rec room, made a few suggestive beeps and boops. Sabine glared at the little astromech.

"You're a crude little oil bucket," she said.

Chopper merely beeped back at her. Sabine rolled her eyes.

"Hmph," she grunted, going back to her weapons. Zeb shrugged.

"So you like him, what's wrong with that? Just like him," he said. Sabine rolled her eyes again.

"I do not like him."

Zeb continued, ignoring her poor denial.

"I'm already desensitized to Kanan and Hera being all lovey-dovey. What's one more couple?" He reached out for a thermal detonator on the table.

"I don't like him. I just don't like people touching what's mine... Is all," Sabine said, smackingZeb's hand away from her detonator.

"Oh! So he's yours then?" Zeb smirked. "Does he know that?" He got up and strolled off, chuckling. Sabine stared at her weapons, nibbling her lower lip.

"He'd better," Sabine said. Chopper laughed, and said something involving lubricants. Sabine's face burned bright red.

"Oh shut up!"

* * *

 _Hope you enjoyed this short story._

 _Also,_ _I'm building a new canon for Star Wars that combines the best of the Disney with the best of Legends. This is just one of several stories I plan to fill out the universe. If you'd like to join in, look me up on Spacebattles. I'd love to have you aboard._


End file.
